Apart from a modest gap in their view of government, one fundamental quality separates Cindy Chavez and Teresa Alvarado in their race for Santa Clara County supervisor. Chavez is a professional politician. Alvarado is not. That distinction cuts both ways.

On Wednesday, I went to the San Jose Rotary Club debate between the two, which — no surprise — was a snoozefest.

If you didn’t know the cues, you could swear that the two women believed the same things: Sure, Chavez is closer to unions. Alvarado is a more centrist Democrat. But both endorsed public service, the common good and apple pie.

Neither one attacked the other. It was only in how they handled questions that you could sense differences. Chavez came prepared with stories and examples. Alvarado arrived with the buzzwords of bureaucracy.

After Alvarado said she intended to change from business as usual, Chavez used an example to emphasize her experience: As a council member, she had helped the Rotarians get their sign atop the Fourth Street garage. “Business as usual, I don’t know what that means,” she said.

And there it was, again and again: The earnest Alvarado, a water district manager who would be a more transparent and trustworthy supervisor than Chavez, used words like “systems” and “outcomes.” Chavez told stories and acknowledged her critics with humorous asides.

At one point, moderator Arthur Weissbrodt asked Alvarado why she was not bringing the attack against Chavez before the July 30 election. The bankruptcy judge quoted an unnamed politician who suggested running on a campaign that charged that a vote for Chavez was a vote for ex-supe George Shirakawa Jr. and ex-Mayor Ron Gonzales.

Political cancer

Alvarado was having none of it. She said she thought her campaign pieces had defined the differences on reform. “I don’t think I have to personally demonize Cindy Chavez,” she said. “I think that’s the cancer in our politics right now.”

She got applause from the crowd. But in her closing, Chavez had the last word. “I think accusing either one of us of fighting like a girl is a bad move,” she said. ” If we were two men, I’m certain the question wouldn’t have come up.”

It was a vintage Chavez move, a pivot to denounce the shadow of inequality. Mind you, Weissbrodt had not accused either of them of fighting like girls. He had simply noted Alvarado’s gentle campaign and asked if she agreed with the unnamed politician’s critique.

In that quick move though, Chavez grabbed the moral high ground: Anyone who questioned the blurring of the campaign was a naughty boy. If Alvarado was shooting three-point shots from the perimeter, Chavez had just completed a backward dunk.

That’s why this campaign is a snoozefest. One candidate — the front-runner, the pro — has little reason to enlarge on their differences. And the other, relying too much on help from an independent committee, won’t seize the chance.

In closed door talks, Sen. Dianne Feinstein agreed to a major new water policy for California that sells out the Delta and guts Endangered Species Act protections. Sen. Barbara Boxer is fighting the good fight to remove the rider from her comprehensive water infrastructure bill, but it may take a presidential veto.